What to do when a student is off task

When running a class with Securly Classroom, you'll come across students who aren't on task. Whether you observe this by seeing their screen thumbnail or the title of a tab in Tab View, there are several options to get students back to their assignments and engaged with your lesson.

Let the student know they need to get back on task

Sometimes, it's as simple as letting a student know that you know they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing. If you're in a physical classroom, you can let them know verbally, but if you're teaching a remote or hybrid class, or don't want to disturb other students in the classroom, you have the option of sending the student in question a chat message.

Simply click on the chat icon in the upper right corner of the student's card. This will open the Chat interface where you can message the student one-on-one.



For more information on Chat, see this article.

If you don't want to chat one-on-one with the student, you can simply send them a single message with the Announce feature. This will send them a single message that they will need to acknowledge to continue using their device. Just make sure to select only the student(s) you wish to send your announcement to before clicking the Announce icon.



For more information on using Announce, see this article.

Keep a closer eye on students by pinning them

If you have students who are prone to frequent distraction, you can keep a closer eye on them by pinning their screen thumbnail or list of tabs to the top of the list. You can do this by clicking the pin icon in the upper right area of the student's card.


For more information on pinning a student, see this article.

Close distracting tabs

You can also focus student attention by closing distracting tabs directly. To do this, click the site in tab view or device view, then click Close.

For more information on closing tabs, see this article.

Block distracting sites

If you want to not only close a tab with a distracting site, but also block the site to prevent future distractions, you can click the site in tab view or device view, then click Block. This will not only close the tab, but add it to the classes currently active blocklist.

Take screenshots of student screens

If a student is having persistent issues with distractions, you can take screenshots of their screen for future reference from the History sub-menu.

To save a screen, open Detail View by clicking the student's screen thumbnail, then click the Camera icon below the student screen image.

For more information on saving student screens, see this article.